The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-08
A LOST CONTINENT.
THE EVIDENCE THR- IT WAS IN
GUlFEO BY THE PACIFIC.

Some startling Revelations Of Modern
scienee-Curions Facts which Have .
Bearing ON the Ouestion-Two Appall-
ing Alternatives Presented.
Little know of the prehistoric adven-
lures of the Atlantic ocean and the countries
which border it, we know still less Of the Pa
cific and its antecedents. Reasoning upon the
date Of the earthquakes Of 1854 and 1853, Pro-
fessors Barrie and Hochstetter reckoned the
average depth of that ocean to be from 2, 600
TO 400 fathoms The Tuscarora which
traversed the Pacific from California to ia
pan via the Sandwich islands, taking sound
lngs Un the way-with a view to the laying
of an ocean cable-found an average depth of
about 2.2On fathnms, with depressions of 5000
fathoms- The Challenger in the South Pa
ciiic found an average depth of about . 500
fathoms; also with deep spots reaching occa-
sionally $500 fathOms But iii the northern
Pacific a very different state Of things Is
found In Behring sea it is an exception to
find "A depth of 100 fathoms; twenty-five,
thirty, forty and fifty fathoms are the rule.
Round the fur seal isiands-St. Paul and st.
GeOrge-bottom IL reached at twenty-five,
thirty. forty and fifty fathoms; in the center
Of behrlng straits the depth marked on the
coast survey charts i twenty-five fathoms.
Again, AT the south the average depth OF the
ocean betwe-n Chill and New Zealand is
known I" l- about 800 fathoms. Thus, so
far znnw-and that is a precious little
the ttf~IH Of the Pacific is a circular bowl
about :'.ph fath"m~ deep in the deepest part,
with a wei defined rim the western, north
ern AMI EASTERN sides, and with innurnerable
islands cropping up all over, like the peaks OF
the mountains of "a submerged continent On
the SnJl ii.'I1r side the rim is broken off and
the isoyi mcrSes INTO the Antarctic oceai.
BASIN OF THE PACIFIC
Assuming that this is correct description
of the Pacific hasin-which, from want OF
ADEQUATE ootmdings. are far from being
sure oft compares curiOusiy with the At
IaHtIc ,t-ean. about which know good
deal. The latter Dream has bench or ter
race, varying from ~ (" 100 miles in width,
amt from not II-, 10 loo fathons in depth,
which i,uirirrs line continents that in,lose the
ocean B,.vuud this bench deep water-n
par,-~ deep - -;.,ah fathoms-comes sud
denly LiIr p-tan BASIN IL traverSed from
north I" ~otith 10y plateau, extending from
the Azort-, or even furthe south, to Iceland;
on eitil,.r ~i.ie "f the plateau Is a deep valley
OF waite bn the plateau depths of 1000
fatunu.~ ;tir. rare: 500 fathoms is the usual
avsr5t..r. i;rIt Just outside the edges of the
plateau Ta"r,- ara ptrtS where no bottom is
found ;,t ,;tErr. The theory of cosmogonists
Is that tili, t,ajgau was once dry land and
that II NuIT.. Ia depth of nearly two miles
leucjttu ga. ~,.rl.t.-t Of the ocean in a convul-
sion Of lIa,ut,. 81 was Icy coupling this ny
poth,-~i,, vfrir Plates rymarkable account of
the lc>t + ,u'I e.. Atlantis, from which, &C
cordiu- H. tlIe Egyptians, they and the
Greek. anil Iurtred all the enlightened peO-
piles of au,-ut times. derived their civiliza-
ton. that l-uatiIT~ D'unelly constructed his
Interesting theory of "A lost continent.
Sr- W IiIrm Dawson has not furnished the
puI,ri,- vtIi the reasons that induced him to
suppose lIa: TIE Creators work is finished in
the Atlantic and unfinished in the Pacific. 1t
cannot have teen that he argued that there
hal been no suieitl',nce of the bottom of the
latter. for the evidences of such a catastrophe
were long ago pointed out by Dana and Oar
win. The coral insect will not build below
700 or 80 feet beneath the surface of the
water. Net coral ,ietritiis has been brought
up from dcrths of 1000 TO ZOO fathoms,
and this throughout Polynesia as far north as
2 degs or , degs. above the tropic Of Capri
corn, AMI as far south as Australia Hence,
it seems that what * now the bottom of a
deep sra must once have been the bottom Of
h shallow sea, such as Retiring sea is now.
SOME VERY CURIOUS FACTS.
Again, the colossal remains on Easter
island show that at some time other that
island must have been connected with islands
west They could not have been erected by
the natives of an island which cannot feed its
people, much less prove home for art. The
islanders could not have sailed to Easter from
Polynesia. for they cannot beat to windward
in their light draught canoes, and the trade
win,is blow from the east and southeast for
eleven months in the year. Nor could they
have come from the west of South America,
for they are men of a different race from
any that ever lived on this continent, being,
in fact obviously members of the Polynesian
family. Hence the former existence OF a
South Pacific continent. though not abso-
lutely demonstrated, Is rendered probable
that man of science would be surprised at
the discovery of absolute evidence of its hav-
in been.
Geograph4rs have amused themselves by
reCoustructing the lost continent, as Don
nelly reconstructed Atlantis. They have
taken existing islands for the tops of noun
tain ranges, and imagined valleys between
them. spreading from range to range. Thus,
Dana imagines two principal mountain
ranges, one starting from the Hawaiian
group and running south to the Mendana,
SOciety and Pearl islands. and another start
ing from the Society group and running
westwar,Ilv through the Navigators, the Fiji
group. the solomon group, New Guinea, the
Spice islands. Celebes, Borneo, Sumatra and
Joining the continent of Asia at Malacca-
Perhaps this theory of cosmogony is as recon-
Cilabe with the facts any other
1t involves two alternatives, each more ap
paIling than the other If there was a Pa
citic continent. how did it disappear Did it
fall crashing down through the waters. in an
instant. in some mighty earthquake which
hurled millions of human beings into eternity
with such awful swiftness that no one knew
what was happening to himi Or did it sub
side gradually the of cultivable land
becoming less each year, 50 that men fled to
hilltops to escape the memorable advance of
the sllrging sea and while q few made their
escape and bore to distant lands the story Of
the deluge. the great bulk persisted miserably
of hunger or in the battle for the food which
was too scanty to suffice for alis Are such
catastruphes likely TO occurl-San Francisco